If you had told me a few years ago that I'd be living in Oaxaca, making a non-alcoholic agave spirit, I would have literally laughed out loud.
Back then, I was bartending in Toronto — surrounded by booze, creating cocktails, living the nightlife. I loved agave spirits, especially tequila. But then in March 2022 the world turned upside down. We were in a pandemic lockdown and I suddenly found myself all alone in my tiny downtown condo. The late nights, the constant drinking, the pressure to perform — it all caught up to me. I didn't know how badly I needed that break until I got it.
Like many of us self-employed hustlers trying to figure out what the next step was, I found myself desperate to escape. I took a one way flight to Mexico and tried to run away from it all. I ended up in Oaxaca, where the air and the land just felt like home to me. To be honest, it actually felt a little like my home town in Taiwan.
I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for, but I knew I didn’t want to drink anymore. Here’s the thing though: this place is mezcal central. It’s everywhere, and it’s deeply cultural and artisanal — not just something you shoot at a bar. Being sober here was hard, not because I wanted to drink, but because I missed the ritual. I missed sipping something stiff and special with friends, connecting over flavors and stories.
That’s when the idea hit me: What if I could create a mezcal-inspired spirit… without the alcohol?
And not some watered-down mixer or fake smoky flavor. I wanted it to be real. Real agave. Real smoke. Real ritual. Just... no buzz.
I started researching like crazy. At first everyone looked at me like I was crazy, especially the Mezcaleros that were borderline offended I even asked. But after getting a lot better at speaking Spanish and fully integrating myself into Oaxaca and the culture of mezcal, I was able to find my mad scientist Matt, the perfect balance to my big picture thinking.
Tomonotomo uses Tobalá agave (a rare, expensive agave that is harvested only in the mountains of Oaxaca), because it has less sugar (easier to control alcohol level) and a lot of agave flavor. We worked with local palenques to roast it the traditional way (in pit ovens), and I learned about a new way to ferment the agave so that we could distill it without alcohol. We didn't have to de-alcoholize a perfectly good mezcal, or add on a chemical process to make it alcohol-free, it's just naturally non-alcoholic from the start.
And let me tell you, this has been the most challenging thing I’ve ever done. I’ve bootstrapped everything from day one. I spent all my personal money and launched a Kickstarter to help fund our customized copper still because our process is so brand new everything needs to be done a little differently. And without having any idea at all how to distill, here I was suddenly with a bunch of pieces of copper trying to put it all together on my own, out of my little garage in Oaxaca.
Every label, every bottle, every drop — it’s been a labor of love. I've never been this poor, or worked this physically hard, but also never been this supported, and felt this rewarded. I believe in this. Gone are the days when I would say, "Gracias, no tomo," and awkwardly refuse a cup of mezcal. Tomonotomo is Spanish for "I drink, I don't drink," to show a completely new way of drinking and socializing, where it doesn't matter if alcohol is there or not, you just appreciate the craft and car of really cool and creative spirits that are made naturally, and from the heart.
So yeah, that's the story. I didn’t just quit drinking. I built something from it. If you’re sober, sober-curious, or just want something delicious without the hangover, I hope you’ll give Tomonotomo a try. We’re just getting started — and I’d love for you to be part of the journey.
